1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a frameless substantially spherical building structure, and more particularly to a frameless substantially spherical building structure which is assembled from a plurality of panel members having spherical outer surfaces.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
The prior art is well aware of building structures having a dome shaped or substantially hemispherical overall appearance. Dome or substantially hemispherically shaped buildings of the prior art usually include a plurality of framing members which support a plurality of substantially flat outer members in such a manner that the dome or hemispherical structure in reality is a multifaceted polyhedron. Such building structures are usually referred to as geodesic structures or geodesic domes.
For detailed description of geodesic structures or domes, reference is made to U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,197,927; 3,354,591; 3,203,144; 3,063,521; 2,914,074; 2,905,113; 2,881,717; 2,682,235 and to the publication "The Dome Builder's Handbook", John Prenis Editor, Running Press Philadelphia, Penna., Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 7419509.
Although geodesic structures have increased somewhat in popularity during the recent years, their application for construction of homes, small workshops, office spaces, storage buildings and the like is still far from being widespread. This is probably due to the fact that geodesic structures of the prior art still generally require support frames, struts and the like which are covered by substantially flat outside panels. In light of this, the overall cost of constructing these structures does not provide a very significant advantage over the cost of constructing conventional building structures.
In addition, it is noteworthy that prior art geodesic structures have not really broken with the old tradition of using component building blocks having straight lines or dimensions. This is generally true even though U.S. Pat. No. 3,197,927 describes a geodesic structure wherein individual structural components have spherical outside surfaces. These components include upwardly extending arcuate side flanges located on their peripheries. The components are then joined together side-by-side by tension rings which engage the flanges. It is readily apparent, however, that construction of such components to provide a side-by-side interlocking geodesic pattern is rather expensive. Perhaps for this and other reasons this structure too has failed to gain widespread acceptance in the construction industry.
In light of the above, it is readily apparent that there is a real need in the building arts and particularly in the geodesic or dome building arts for a revolutionary new design for a substantially spherical structure which is simple to construct from a few prefabricated elements at a fraction of the cost of prior art geodesic or conventional structures.